Google Glass

Having a pair of Google Glass could be the coolest thing today for geeks. It’s probably the best wearable tech device right now but since it is a first release, the Glass has limited features. A recent update to the MyGlass app brought bug fixes and notifications can now be sent from the phone to show on the Google Glass display screen. While the latter is a helpful feature, it disabled notifications on an Android Wear device. This means you cannot use Android Wear and Glass for notifications at the same time.

As promised, Google has rolled out an update to Google Glass, or to be specific to its MyGlass companion app, that enables users to see regular notifications from their phone right in Google Glass. But as seem to be the practice with Google's updates, version 3.3.0 of the MyGlass app also includes features that are not actually available yet but do prefigure that things that could be coming next once Google flips the switch, most likely on Glass' firmware itself.

For the hundreds (or maybe now thousands?) of owners of the Google Glass, the new update that will be unrolled this week has been a long time coming. Google announced that finally, notifications from the Android smartphone connected to the wearable will now be mirrored to your eyeballs, or rather, the Glass in front of your eyeballs.

Almost everybody who’s capable of producing tech eyewear is coming after Google Glass in a big way, and Japanese consumer electronics outfit Sony isn’t one to get left behind. It’s releasing the Sony SmartEyeglass (we guess people are running out of novel names for tech eyewear) to compete in this segment, although it doesn’t have software of its own as of now and is relying on third party developers to work with their SDK.

Smart eyewear, novel as they still may be, is already catching on with some device OEMs. But almost all of them have one thing in common: they all still need a smartphone to work whether for connecting to the Internet and data like Google Glass, or providing the heart of the device itself like Samsung Gear VR. The Osterhout Design Group's ODG R-7 is notably different. It has its own Android-based OS running inside of it, freeing it from the shackles of a smartphone.

Google Glass owners have a new software update for the wearable device that should be available for download soon. The new update comes on the heels of the last update that landed only a few weeks ago bringing the Google Glass software to version XE20.1.

This week, to add to all the hysteria at IFA 2014, Google has updated its device store on the Google Play displays with two new devices – that is the Google Glass Explorer Edition and the Moto 360. It’s worth mentioning that Glass was already made available in the UK, but now it’s available in the US as well – at least, conveniently through the Google Play Store. Also, Motorola’s new roundface thingamajig has also been made available.

As wearable technologies continue to find their time more and more in the spotlight, outfits like Optinvent find more and more reasons to be bullish about their products. This specific thingamabob is the ORA-1 wearable “smart glass” gadget, done in the tradition of what Google started with Google Glass – only, this one is more scalable as it runs mostly on Android OS.

If you’re wearing your Google Glass and want to bust out a dance move to show how cool you are, you can now have a perfect partner app for that, instead of just relying on the music in your head. Pandora has now arrived for Google Glass as a result of the music streaming service’s hack-a-thon this spring, which Google was more than happy to adapt to their precious wearable.

With Android Wear off to a solid start, it's time to turn our eyes again on some of Google's well-known but still unreleased projects, namely, Google Glass. This week we're seeing some interesting news surrounding the eyewear, including the addition of a long overdue feature as well as hints at a more acceptable new design.